SINGAPORE - The former president of ship builder Singapore Technologies (ST) Marine was charged on Tuesday with corruption.

See Leong Teck, 64, is the fourth to be charged in this case, following three others who were hauled to court earlier this month.

He is said to have conspired with four others to pay bribes, totalling $556,174, to agents of customers. The bribes were allegedly in return for ship repair contracts.

See faces seven charges in all. The conspiracies he was allegedly a part of took place between 2004 and 2010. The bribes were allegedly paid between May 2004 and Dec 2007.

Two others named in the conspiracy with See on Tuesday had already been charged on Dec 11.

Former senior vice-president (Tuas Yard) Mok Kim Whang, 64, was named in one count involving $43,721. Former group financial controller and senior vice-president (finance) Ong Teck Liam, 58, appears in two of the charges, involving $247,658. Separately, Ong faces 118 counts of making false petty cash claims amounting to over $520,000 in entertainment expenses, when there should have been none.

Meanwhile, a former chief financial officer of group subsidiary Vision Technologies Systems, Patrick Lee Swee Ching, is named in five of See's charges. These involve $308,516.

See served as ST Marine's president from 1997 to 2008. He was succeeded by 54-year-old Chang Cheow Teck - who was among the three charged on Dec 11. Chang held the role till April 2010, and then served as president of ST Aerospace from May 2010 to June this year.

See, represented by Mr Wendell Wong of Drew and Napier, is out on $150,000 bail. His passport has been impounded.

If convicted, he could be jailed for up to five years and fined up to $100,000 on each count of corruption.

The Straits Times

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